"Great Panic" begins as the Zombie Pandemic spreads
by Emy Abuan
Through a series of oral interviews, Brooks, as an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission, describes the history of 'World War Z'. Although the origin of the zombie pandemic is unknown, the story begins in China where a young boy becomes the pandemic's "patient zero"—(implied not the first victim chronologically), at which the Chinese government attempts to contain the infection and concocts a crisis involving Taiwan to mask their activities. The infection is spread to other countries by the black market organ trade and by refugees, before an outbreak brings the plague to public attention. As the infection spreads, Israel initiates a nationwide quarantine and closes its borders to everyone except uninfected Jews and Palestinians, putting down an ultra-Orthodox uprising. Pakistan and Iran destroy each other in a nuclear war after the Iranian government attempts to stem the flow of refugees fleeing through Pakistan.
